MINECRAFT Arduino Nano Night Light

We love MINECRAFT and we love Arduino, so we decided to combine the two! Along with a recycled tennis ball canister, a peanut butter jar, Arduino Nano, and a few everyday components and created a light sensitive night light with a MINECRAFT themed shade made of vellum paper.

There are a myriad of ways to achieve this, but this is simple, straight forward and easy to achieve for those new to electronics and a fun inspiration for those that use electronics everyday. Feel free to use a plug if you choose to connect to an outlet or a solar panel and rechargeable batteries outside.

Step 1: What You'll Need...

Tall, wide mouthed empty bottle or canister: we chose a tennis ball canister for it's height and a peanut butter jar for its width.

Step 2: Drill a Hole in the Bottom of Your Jar/cannister

Step 3: Print Design on Vellum Paper...

We have a MINECRAFT theme going here, but feel free to be creative and print any picture you want to have as a "lamp shade".

The lid will be ON THE BOTTOM of your lamp. Adjust your print accordingly and cut to fit the length of your chosen canister/jar.

Step 4: Cut Two Pieces of Solid Core Hookup Wire....

These are going to be soldered to the LDR. The length should correspond to the height of the night light and be able to connect into the breadboard.

Any color is ok as there is no polarity in the LDR.

*NOTICE our wires are actually too short and we had to had male to female jumpers at the end to be able to connect while shutting the lid. CUT YOUR WIRES APPROXIMATELY 6 INCHES LONGER THAN IN THE FIRST PICTURE.

Step 5: Solder the Wires to the LDR...

Solder one wire to each of the legs of the LDR to extend it through the hole we drilled in step 1.

Use heat shrink or electrical tape to guard against a short circuit as the legs will be close together.

PRO TIP: Use simple tape to hold small wires in place for easy soldering.

Step 6: Solder the Battery Leads (optional)

Solder a header pin onto each wire and shrink wrap.

We like to do this for a secure connection into the breadboard. If you feel that the bare leads work fine for insertion, then skip this step.

Step 7: Solder Piranha LED Legs...

Piranha LED's are made to sit close onto the breadboard and we need to extend their legs. We achieve this by simply soldering 4-6 inch pieces of small gauge Solid Core hook up wire to extend the legs.

We do recommend marking the legs of the Piranha LED so you know the orientation and polarity.

Step 8: Build the Circuit...

Here is the Fritzing Diagram and the .fzz if you want to redesign the circuit.